If Everyone Cared
by zookitty
Summary: Tag for Eclipse part 2. A bit of a fix it for the ticked off fans.The eclipse has always stood for beginning in Peter’s life but something has ended too and suddenly the powers he knows he has back are not worth it. Peter, Nathan, Gabriel


**Gibberings: **I watched this episode and I was ticked. Stef was ticked. Val was ticked. We were all collectively pissed. This is my fix it. Lots of Petrelli brothers in this story. how many brothers? Count 'em. 3. That's my story and I'm sticking to it...even if Kringe doesn't.

Did I mention I was pissed?

Betaed by the ever awesome Val

**Spoilers: **Eclipse part 2

* * *

For one second everything is good. For once second they are heroes again. Nathan says the words he longs to hear. Nathan is proud of him. They are brothers again.

For one second.

Then Nathan flies away and Peter feels lost. It feels like betrayal. It feels like the same old dance again. It feels like watching a hero fall.

Then the second blow falls.

He's not sure what it is, just that it hurts. It feels like his entire being is moaning. Something is lost and it is sickening. He sinks to his knees on the lush jungle ground, and shuts his eyes.

"Gabriel…" he whispers. He's not sure how he knows, just that he does. It feels like his whole world is turned on its axis.

The eclipse has always stood for beginning in Peter's life and somehow he realizes that it has yet again…but something has ended too and suddenly the powers he knows he has back are not worth it.

He closes his eyes and tries to focus through the disconnected haze. A firm hand grabs his shoulder and Peter instantly feels the calming presence of the Haitian.

"Peter?" The man never says much, but he always puts so much into what little he does say.

"I have to go to him," Peter's words are little more than a moan. The agony is pounding. He has to know why. The Haitian nods and doesn't let go of his shoulder. Peter knows exactly what that means. For some reason the Haitian has been protecting his family and the quiet man doesn't plan to stop now.

Peter channels the power he gained from Hiro. It's been a while since he's felt it, but the sudden surge is still familiar. It slips on him like an old glove.

And then they are on the beach. He doesn't know where, just knows where the pain is pulling him. The smell is the first thing he notices. Thick blood mixed with the salty ocean air. He sees her, all blonde hair and lifeless eyes. He sees her, then looks away. He doesn't have to look further. He knows who she is.

He knows who killed her.

His hand ghosts over her pale arm and suddenly he understands. A tear slides down his cheek. Elle isn't the only one he's crying for.

The sensation is crippling again. He falls to his knees and retches on the sand. He feels the Haitian behind him, watching, ready to help if he needs to. But not offering support. The man just killed his brother; he doesn't have anything left to offer.

Peter feels sick again when he realizes he might have to do the same.

A thud beside him gets Peter's attention. He turns to see the Haitian fall unconscious in the sand. There is no time to react as Peter is lurched into the air, an invisible force wrapping around his throat. He remembers it from Mohinder's apartment, from Kirby Plaza.

His mortal enemy. His nemesis. His brother.

"Hello Peter," the voice hisses. Peter understands it now. This is not his brother. Gabriel that risked his life to save Peter was only a brief visitor. This is Sylar. The face, the voice, none of it's the same.

Except for the eyes.

"Why?" It's all that Peter can choke out. Sylar smirks that predatory smile.

"We can't ever really change who we are, Peter," the killer answers. "I was just fighting the inevitable."

"You could have been happy," Peter forces his will into loosening the hold. "I saw it."

"What you saw was a future that can never happen!"

"It would have happened!" the young Petrelli tosses back. "You see how things work, then you know that I'm right. Look at her. Look. At. _Her._" For a moment something flashes across those eyes that Peter recognizes. Sylar turns to the girl—the one he loved, the one he killed.

Then just as suddenly Sylar can see it. Elle wasn't the only one he murdered that night, but their son. The one that would have been there's. A name floats in his head. _Noah. _He's not sure if it's Peter telling him, or if something deep inside of himself that tells him this. But that's what they would have named him. He wonders why they would name him after the man who tried to kill them.

He realizes he will never find out.

Sylar didn't know when he hit the ground, only that Peter was beside him when he did. The minute the young Petrelli touches him, he knows his other mistake. This is his brother.

Mr. Bennet was wrong.

Elle tried to tell him. She saw his file. She knew the truth, and he didn't trust her. His anger overtook him. He killed her, and she had been telling the truth.

"Kill me," he begs. He feels the hands on his shoulders tighten.

"No."

"Kill me!" The demand is desperate; Peter feels it shake through him.

"No," he says again, firm, final. "I saw the future…you can still make it happen."

"She's dead."

"You don't have to be." Peter jerks his brother around to face him, leaning up into his personal space like Nathan always does when he really wants Peter to hear. "Listen to me. I won't let you fall again, Gabriel."

It's a promise, and Petrelli's always keep their promises. Well, at least, Peter does.

Gabriel lets himself fall against Peter. Let's his younger brother hold him up for a little while. He realizes now that even if Angela and Arthur were playing him from the beginning, Peter never was.

_-_-_

Nathan is halfway to Pinehearst when he throws on the breaks—metaphorically. He lands on the coast, somewhere in Maryland he thinks. He listens for a second to the water lapping at the beach as he realizes what a terrible idiot he is.

The senator has never had a panic attack before, but he's pretty sure he now knows what one feels like. His heartbeat jets, breathe coming in quick gasps, as he leans on his knees to try and calm down.

He just watched his baby brother run at a group of armed Gorillas with a machine gun. Peter, who was so gentle and good. If he had been one second later he would have had to wipe his brother off the dirt.

The whole thing had led to an epiphany about who he had become, but Nathan suddenly realizes that all the life changing epiphanies in the world wouldn't mean squat if Peter died.

He hadn't been kidding that day after he saw Peter die the first time, and told him that everything good about himself was because of his little brother.

And now he had just left a powerless Peter to fend for himself—in the jungle.

Everything in Nathan wanted to jet right back there and pick his baby brother up. Wanted to tell Peter what a knuckle head he had been for leaving him.

The senator isn't exactly sure what stopped him. Something inside him—that connection Peter was always talking about—told him he didn't have to go all the way to jungle to find what he is looking for.

He walked further down the beach.

Of all the things Nathan had expected to see, his brother holding a sobbing serial killer was not one of them. Next he notices the unconscious Haitian and the blonde chick in the sand. He had to do a double take to realize it's not Claire.

"Peter?"

The younger Petrelli looks up. Those lines around his eyes, that were never there when he was still trying to "save the cheerleader", ease at the sight of Nathan. Something inside the senator eases too.

He goes over to Peter and kneels in the sand. He hopes his eyes convey his apology, and knows they do when Peter nods.

"Nathan," the younger speaks up, "I want you to meet our brother…Gabriel."

Somehow Nathan knows it's gonna be one heck of a night.


End file.
